West Virginia joins lawsuit against ATF rule requiring licenses for more private gun sales

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia is joining a coalition of 21 states in a lawsuit against a new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) rule that Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says will prevent law-abiding Americans from selling firearms.

The rule in question changes the definition of what it means legally to be “engaged in the business” as a firearms dealer by eliminating the requirement that the person selling a firearm be doing so with the “principal objective” of “livelihood and profit,” and replacing that requirement with the intent “to predominantly earn a profit.”

Under the rule change, people who are seeking to sell a firearm for a profit— defined as currency, the exchange of another firearm or a service —would have to obtain a federal firearms dealer license, even if their livelihood is not selling firearms.

“It could make a felon of a gun hobbyist who sells a firearm to another family member or a hunter who trades a firearm with another hunting buddy,” a press release from Morrisey’s office said.

Click here to read the changes made to the presumptions that a person is “engaged in the business.”

The process of obtaining a federal firearms dealer license, according to the ATF’s website , usually takes 60 days from the time the ATF receives your completed application in the mail and includes a background check, an in-person interview with an industry operations investigator and an ATF area supervisor to submit a recommendation to issue or deny the license.

As of Wednesday, the rule was slated to go into effect on May 20, 2024.

The rule says it was implemented as part of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito both voted for and House Representatives David Mckinley, Carol Miller and Alex Mooney voted against .

A lawsuit, which was filed by the attorneys general of 21 different states, argues that the rule change is unconstitutionally vague, as well as a violation of the Second Amendment. Click here to read the suit.

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